World War 1 Art

World War 1 art often reflected feelings and displayed what life was like during that time. Furthermore, these works allowed later generations to visualize the situation and gain an undertstanding of what these people were experiencing. Just as art changed the perception of war, war changed the perception of art. The war influenced different styles of art such as surrealism and modernism, which was already developed years before, but had never took flight quite like it did in World War 1.

"Considered by many art critics as the most important British painting of the war, Merry-Go-round, shows a group of military and civilian figures caught on the vicious circle of the roundabout."

Eric Kennington, Gassed and Wounded (1917)

"An interior scene of a field hospital showing gassed and wounded soldiers lying on stretchers. In the foreground there is a soldier with his eyes bandaged and his mouth open in pain. His stretcher is carried by an orderly. A smoking stove stands in the left foreground, and the light shines in from the right onto the faces of the blinded men."

Henry Lamb, Irish Troops in the Judaen Hills (1919)

"The scene is based on Lamb’s experiences in Palestine. Through the use of an elevated viewpoint, he cleverly highlights the trajectory of the Turkish artillery shells raining down on the Irish soldiers. He also reveals the terror and vulnerability of the men surprised by shellfire on the stony hillside."